


luck

by yutaeilbot



Series: Zombie AU [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, Minor Angst, Zombie Apocalypse, broken bones and pining for a lost half really, this is just a bonus piece for 'youre my blue' so go read that lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 05:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19192429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yutaeilbot/pseuds/yutaeilbot
Summary: “jaehyun!” johnny called, clearly on the verge of panic. “baby, are you okay?!”he knew he was going to die there.companion piece to "you're my blue." i'll be real with you chief, you're gonna miss out on a lot of details if you just read this, but it's fine if you do. i wont force you to read the main fic





	luck

**Author's Note:**

> well hello hello hello we've returned to blue-verse. this is dedicated to my lovely bud emily who is good and wholesome and jaehyun biased and she said she liked youre my blue so i wrote this to make her sad but its not nearly as sad as it could have been, its just like. what happened to jaehyun during the time(tm)
> 
> yeah i said in the summary that you should probably read you're my blue if you havent already aflksf you might be a little lost?? so you can just do a lil clicky click right here [here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18580462)

_“jaehyun!” johnny called, clearly on the verge of panic. “baby, are you okay?!”_

jaehyun coughed, dust and dirt kicked up by the falling pole filling his airways, and let out a groan. a searing pain shot up his body, originating from his leg. a quick glance down at the limb, twisted at an unnatural angle, brought him the sight of blood on his pants - his own. it was broken, pretty badly from the looks of it.

he knew he was going to die there.

“i’m fine,” he called back, voice strained as he tried to adjust even a little from where he had landed. “i’m fine but you need to go; that sound was sure to attract attention.”

his heart pounded in his chest, ears acutely aware of every minor noise he was able to pick up in anticipation of incoming infected. they needed to leave. jaehyun needed johnny to leave with mark and donghyuck right then. he wouldn’t be able to deal with knowing his own foolishness got them killed too if they stuck around.

“i can’t just leave you here,” johnny insisted, voice pleading. “do you see a way i can get back there? or a way for you to get here?”

the prompted question made him look around, eyes scanning for any hope of escape for him, but that possibility was erased from his mind with a sharp gasp when he managed to move his leg just a little bit. he heard johnny move slightly on the other side of the pole, surely alarmed by the pained noise.

“i can’t,” he practically whispered - any louder and he would have started crying on the spot - but he hated the tremble in his voice. “i -- please, johnny, you have to leave; you have to get safe, take them and go.”

“jae --”

“johnny.” jaehyun’s voice was more firm this time, unwilling to argue the point, but his heart broke as he continued. “we will always find our way back to each other. you know that.”

he said it more for himself than for johnny, trying to give himself some semblance of hope even though he knew it was futile. if infected or other survivors didn’t find him and finish him off, he was sure to starve to death or inevitably succumb to infection. he repeated himself in his head, _we will always find our way back to each other_ _,_ but it felt like a lie even in silence.

there was a moment in which jaehyun could barely hear mark and johnny speaking, could faintly make out the telltale sound of his boyfriend’s pre-crying voice.

“i love you,” johnny called through their barrier. jaehyun could tell he would cry any second. “i love you so much.”

jaehyun smiled - a sort of sad smile that didn’t reach his eyes, the kind that would have earned him a scolding of _‘_ _you know i can see right through you’_ back before any of this had happened. at the thought of their previous life, jaehyun’s brow furrowed, recalling happy memories that only served to have tears welling in his eyes as well.

a month ago, they were in the middle of a _Star Wars_ marathon. they’d been curled up on the couch in jaehyun’s room, trying to throw popcorn into each other’s mouths, laughing and smiling and generally happy. the last movie they’d gotten to was _The Empire Strikes Back ._

“I know,” he called back, hoping maybe, _just maybe_ _,_ he could be the cause of johnny’s smile one last time with his dorky callback. he didn’t know if it worked or not, and that notion was the one that finally had the tears rolling down his face.

* * *

it was hard to say how long he sat there. it could have been a day, it could have been a few hours. the incessant rain and throbbing pain in his leg were enough to make him spacey enough to lose track of the time.

he lost track of how much he cried, too. once he was sure johnny, mark, and donghyuck were gone, he let it all out. with them going further and further away, jaehyun was unafraid to sob openly into the empty store - attracting any attention would only hurt him, and he didn’t have anything else to lose.

the first footfalls startled him out of his own head, several quick, tapping footsteps that seemed too rhythmic to be the infected. jaehyun wasn’t sure if he was more scared by other humans finding him or if he would hold onto some hope that they wouldn’t kill him immediately - maybe they’d even _help_ him.

unlikely.

after a few moments of hushed voices and more footfalls, the people approached the pole, seemingly amazed by its presence.

“It fell right through the ceiling, huh?” one voice asked; it was softer, but decidedly male. “gimme a boost over?”

there was a low grunt in response, and then jaehyun saw as a man began pulling himself over the pole with his companion’s assistance. he had dark hair and wide, curious eyes that widened even more upon looking up and seeing jaehyun on the floor. when their eyes met, jaehyun could only guess at what the stranger saw before him - a young man covered in dirt and blood, lying pitifully on a filthy floor, maybe two feet from where a giant metal pole had fallen in through the ceiling.

“oh my god.” the man was momentarily distracted by jaehyun - enough to have him distracted to the point that his companion got frustrated and gave him a forceful shove that had him falling the rest of the way over the pole. luckily, his reflexes were quick enough to catch him before he plummeted face first into the dirt and ruined shelving.

after a moment, another man joined him, climbing and jumping over the pole with relative ease, as if it were merely part of an obstacle course he’d run before. he landed on both feet and pulled the first man up from where he’d landed on the ground before even turning to see jaehyun there.

“oh.”

a moment of silence passed between them; jaehyun felt cornered, unable to move away from the strangers and uncertain of their intentions, and it must have shown on his face. the first man who had come over crouched low to the ground and unhooked a dirty metal water bottle from his belt before offering it to jaehyun tentatively.

“what are you doing?” his companion hissed, starting to move, but being held back by the first man’s hand gesturing for him to stay.

“how long have you been here?” the man asks, inching slowly closer for jaehyun to take the water bottle.

although still frightened, it’d be a lie if jaehyun said he wasn’t thirsty. he’d be a fool to deny the offer. even though he didn’t actually know how long it had been, it’d been long enough for him to be well on his way to a dehydration headache. his hands shook when he reached out to take the bottle.

another moment of silence passed as jaehyun took several large gulps of the water. for a moment, he felt like he could cry from how overwhelmed he felt in the moment. this stranger’s show of kindness made him feel like maybe he wouldn’t die after all, but that started a pang of sorrow in his chest that’d be hard for him to shake.

“i don’t know,” he finally said, handing the bottle back to the man. “it’s been a bit, i guess.”

“okay.” the two strangers shared a look, and the second shrugged with a sigh. the first man came to squat by jaehyun’s side. “i’m taeyong. this is doyoung.”

jaehyun nodded a greeting of sorts to each of them. “jaehyun.”

taeyong nodded as well, looking over jaehyun carefully. “well, jaehyun, it seems like you’ve gotten yourself into a bit of trouble here, huh?”

a wave of embarrassment washed over jaehyun at the words. he hung his head.

“yeah. yeah, i…” he trailed off.

“you don’t have to tell us what happened. i understand.”

there was a bit of painful maneuvering after this, and a few horrible attempts at helping jaehyun stand up, but they succeeded after a bit. jaehyun leaned heavily on the second man - doyoung - clenching his jaw at the shocks of white hot pain that seared through him.

“i’m gonna grab some stuff,” taeyong said, looking between jaehyun and doyoung as if he were their mother, giving them rules before leaving them home alone. “and i’m gonna look for a back door, and then we’ll get you out of here.”

jaehyun didn’t know what to do, so he merely nodded in response. he thinks he must be the luckiest man in the world right now, touched by some god who didn’t want him to die this way in this moment. it could have gone much worse.

it took them another 45 minutes to get a decent way out of the store. taeyong ended up taking an axe to a pliable section of wood in the rear of the building, and he was able to make a pretty decent doorway for them to leave through.

truly, jaehyun must have been the luckiest man in the world.

* * *

they traveled for what seems like forever, taeyong and doyoung taking turns shouldering jaehyun’s weight as he limped horribly along. it was one of the most painful experiences he’d ever had (second only to when he fell off his dirt bike at 15, broke both his wrists and had a massive bruise along his left bicep), but he did his best to grin and bear it.

most of their trip was a blur of pain and exertion to him; he didn’t even remember getting to their budding encampment, didn’t remember getting handed off to other people - what he _did_ remember, though, was the resetting of his compound fracture. to say it hurt would be an understatement, and the entire process definitely took the number one spot of most painful experiences.

he fainted at some point during the resetting, surely a relief to the four people required to properly set the bone and keep him from thrashing off the cot bed they’d laid him on. it was a great relief to him when he woke up once more to a make-shift cast around his leg and a bottle of what he found to be painkillers on a chair next to him.

it took a week and a half for him to stand on his own again, and even then it was with a lot of difficulty. after that, it was another three weeks before he could walk on his own for more than a few feet. the waiting was _agonizing_ _;_ he felt like he was such a burden on these strangers, but they tried their best to ease that feeling.

taeyong came by to talk to him pretty frequently, making sure to bring others of the “settlement” to meet jaehyun, since he was likely to be around for a while. doyoung seemed to warm up to him as well, often bringing by old books from his room to help jaehyun pass the time. another man, taeil, came to talk at least twice a week - curious about jaehyun’s past life, his time before them, his interests. taeil heard a lot about johnny, mark, and donghyuck. the whole camp did, really.

he got to meet the person mainly responsible for his leg being on the path to proper healing - a man with a kind smile named kun, who also apparently did the cooking for everyone. he learned kun had been in medical school before the infection spread, and turned into an impromptu doctor on site when they needed him to be. jaehyun thanked him relentlessly every time they saw each other.

soon a month had passed. two. slowly but surely jaehyun became more confident in his movement, more confident among the people in the area - “neo city,” they called it - and he learned more about the other settlements peppered across the city. it was heartwarming to know there were places of safety around.

he hoped johnny and the boys had made it to somewhere safe like that.

regardless of his improvements, jaehyun still longed for the warmth johnny had brought in his life. he longed to see the smiles of the most important people in his life, yearned to kiss the love of his life one more time. there were days he couldn’t bring himself to do anything but sit and stare out the dirty window into the forest beyond neo city.

before he knew it, the third month of being amongst the others was beginning. two more weeks until they’d take his cast off to examine his leg to decide if it was healed properly enough to go without another. the nerves were killing him - he wanted to be able to actually help around the place, he needed the distraction when his heart was hurting as badly as it had been recently.

doyoung and taeyong took to helping jaehyun with a sort of physical therapy to help him adjust back into a physically demanding life like the one he’d be jumping into with them. they pushed him a little harder every few days - run the length of the hallway, jump over these boxes, push this bed, touch your toes and then stretch further. it was pretty rough, but jaehyun thought it was nice to feel a physical strain rather than the mental, emotional one he’d been feeling.

it’s one afternoon when they’re in the middle of bending jaehyun in half via stretching that the world shifts dramatically once again.

earlier that day, they’d said farewells to yuta before he headed off to scout a little further north of the area. it was a routine scouting - an easy trip for someone who had made it many times before - and they expected yuta back any time. what they didn’t expect were extras.

jaehyun was confused when yuta came to them upon his return, didn’t understand the look he shared with taeyong -- at least, not until he stepped back and gestured inside the room. he thought he must have been dreaming when johnny appeared in the doorway. the kind of happy dream that made you feel like you were floating, the kind that made you feel whole.

but johnny’s shocked expression, the way he flung himself into the room, the way his hands and lips felt so so real on his face… that couldn’t have been fake. jaehyun would know that warmth from a dream any time. he didn’t realize he had begun to cry until a harsh sob ripped itself from his chest. tears began streaming down johnny’s face as well as he hovered in jaehyun’s space, kneeling on the ground.

“oh my god,” johnny whispered, pressing kisses all over jaehyun’s face. just the sound of his voice made jaehyun’s heart soar. “oh my god, jae, i’m so sorry.”

he lifted his hands to wipe away his love’s tears, smiling through his own and laughing incredulously.

“i can’t believe this,” he said. “you’re -- and the boys, too --” his eyes flashed over to mark and donghyuck, took in their linked pinkies with a knowing smile, and focused back on johnny. “i’m so proud of you. i missed you so much.”

**Author's Note:**

> so yeah ivebeen having a rough time and i wanted to post something finally while i suffer with the longer fics on my to-do list. 
> 
> anyway you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/yutaeilbot) and [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/yutaeilbot)! i also have writing commissions open while i'm in between jobs, and you can find that info [here!](https://twitter.com/yutaeilbot/status/1135608084120907776)


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